JUDGES 6-8. GIDEON DELIVERS ISRAEL FROM THE MIDIANITES. The next war was waged, not against disciplined soldiers, but against a horde of nomads from the eastern desert. The Midianites are represented in the OT sometimes as peaceful shepherds (Exodus 2:15 f.*), sometimes as caravan traders (Genesis 3... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DEPREDATIONS OF THE MIDIANITES. D, whose phrases occur in Judges 6:1 f., Judges 6:6, sees in the ebb and flow of Israel's fortune an index of their moral and spiritual condition. National suffering he regards as the punishment of national sin; the hand of Midian is in a sense the hand of God; ye... [ Continue Reading ]
A second writer (probably E) introduces a prophet who reproves Israel for disloyalty and ingratitude to Yahweh their God. The brief speech is a torso. Reflective rather than prophetic, it opens impressively, but ends abruptly, like a sermon without application; and then one of the main traditions be... [ Continue Reading ]
JUDGES 6:11. On the angel of Yahweh see Judges 2:1; Genesis 16:7 *. For oak read terebinth. While the primitive Semites were animists, the Israelites came to associate Yahweh's own presence with sacred trees (p. 100, Genesis 18:1). Judges 6:12. With the assurance Yahweh is with thee _cf._ the faith... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ALTAR OF BAAL. We have seen that after the Conquest Yahweh was reverently and innocently called the Baal (Lord) of the land, and that loyal Israelites gave their children Baal names. The present section, in which the Baal of Ophrah is _distinguished_ from Yahweh, and regarded... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MIDIANITE RAID, AND THE SIGN OF THE FLEECE. The broad and deep Vale of Jezreel, lying between Gilboa and Moreh, leads up from Jordan to the Great Plain. Judges 6:34. Gideon now felt the Divine impulse the spirit of Yahweh came upon him, lit clothed itself with him, put him on like a garment, po... [ Continue Reading ]